David Magán’s art lies in the field of sculpture and installation, where the use of plane, colour, transparency and light stands out. Born 1979, Magán grew up in Madrid, where he trained at La Palma School of Art, from 1999 to 2004, specialising in wood and metal sculptural techniques.
Between 2002 and 2008, he complimented his training at specialised workshops on creative stained glass art, notably with sculptor Lucas Mjartan, at the Real Fábrica de Vidrio de la Granja, Segovia, Spain. David currently works between Guadalajara (Spain) and Madrid, where he directs the David Magan Studio in conjunction with his brother Kiko Magán. The studio, as such, has been operating since 2009.
Initially based on the stained glass tradition, his work soon developed towards freeing glass from its support and focusing on the interplay of translucent coloured planes in space. His early interest in integrating sculptural work and architecture led him to develop his iconic suspended colour plate installations, a constant in his oeuvre. However, it is acrylic and more industrial production techniques that allow greater formal flexibility and precision to convey his ideas. More recently, he has taken his visual concerns into other media and has worked on relief and photographic series, as well as digital and graphic work, broadening his visual language into the pictorial world. Recently, his interest in controlling and modulating light projected by coloured acrylics, culminated in Binaries, his first light works. From here on, he is expanding media use with different coloured light sources, to trap and modulate light in space.
His numerous solo projects include: Twenty-twenty Vision. Parra & Romero (Madrid, Spain, 2023); Square. Pep Llabrés Gallery (Mallorca, Spain, 2022); In Praise of Shadows. As Quintas (Asturias, Spain, 2022); Immaterial Architectures. Museo Francisco Sobrino (Guadalajara, Spain, 2021); Light Object. Cayón Gallery (Madrid, Spain, 2021); Hard-line. Cayón Gallery (Madrid, Spain, 2021); Matter Matters. CAB (Burgos, Spain, 2020); David Magán. Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie Online (Bielefeld, Germany, 2020); The Weight of Colour. Cayón Gallery (Madrid, Spain, 2017); Primary Interferences. CEART (Fuenlabrada, Spain, 2016); Primary Cube. Cayón Gallery (Madrid, Spain, 2016); The Invented Colour. FCNV (Segovia, Spain, 2014); Domesticated Transparency. MAVA (Alcorcón, Spain, 2013); Fragment of Light. Cayón Gallery (Madrid, Spain, 2012); About the Plane and Space. CEART (Fuenlabrada, Spain, 2010).
Highlighted international group shows are: Chromatic. Dados Negros (Ciudad Real, Spain, 2023); Parra & Romero 10th Anniversary (Ibiza, Spain, 2022); Distant Geometries. Pep Llarés Gallery (Mallorca, Spain, 2022); Nuevos senderos del MAC: pulso e impulso de una colección. MAC (Madrid, Spain, 2022); Light Unlocked. Rocket Gallery (London, UK, 2021); Images from the rear-view mirror. CentroCentro (Madrid, 2021); Takeover Spain. Marión Gallery (Panama City, Panama, 2021); 2021 Reloaded. Samuelis Baumgarte Gallery (Bielefeld, Germany, 2021); Line in Suspension. Marión Gallery (Panama City, Panama, 2020); Behind the Wall. XIII Biennial of Havana (Cuba, 2019); (pre) Texts. Otazu Foundation (Navarra, Spain, 2018); Transparency. Denise René Gallery (Paris, France, 2016); Interaction. Dados Negros (Ciudad Real, Spain, 2016); Colours. Hempel Glasmuseum (Denmark, 2015); Glass & Architecture. International Glass Biennale (Strasbourg, France, 2015); European Glass Experience (Finland and Italy, 2014-2015); Constructive Art, Kinetic Art. Espace Expression (Miami, USA, 2014); Hello! Spain, Seongnam Arts Centre (South Korea, 2013).
Since 2011, he has taken part in the following art fairs: ARCO (Spain), Art Berlin (Germany); ArtLima (Peru); Ch.ACO (Chile); Zona MACO (Mexico); Pinta London (UK); Pinta Miami (USA); Art Toronto (Canada); Art Marbella (Spain); Estampa (Spain).
His works can be found in many museums and private collections, including: Museum Ritter (Germany); MAC (Spain); CEART (Spain); MAVA (Spain); FCNV (Spain); Murano Glass Museum (Italy); NH Collection of Contemporary Art (Spain); Kablanc Otazu Art Foundation (Spain).